Rotten Rats in my garden!

Yeuuuuhhh!

The vector of Hanta virus is usually the little wild deer mouse. In CA, there have been 54 cases diagnosed in 34 years (1980 - 2014), including the 7 cases in Yosemite in 2012.
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/discond/Documents/CAHPSCasesByExposureSites.pdf

sanderson wrote:The vector of Hanta virus is usually the little wild deer mouse. 

I hate peromyscus mice species for that reason! I rather see a rat!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Me too, RB, your feral squatter looks like an Ace hunter!  Snakes are very efficient in keeping rodent populations in check, as well.  Yay, Mother Nature!

Wish we had them here to keep the deer mouse population in check...

I'm suspecting deer mouse (At least past deer mouse activity) activity in the current house... 
It looks like I saw some mouse poop! 

Deer mice are worse than rats, because of the strain of hantavirus they carry... 
They have a white belly and bigger eyes...

But, I recently saw a black cat and today or yesterday, a golden cat walking around...

You might want to consider these types of traps. I use them for small rodents and such. Just drop in a bucket of water         re bait and use again.

Trapping rats with cats around.  We baited the traps with fruit and slipped them in protected areas.  I hope the photos download as I'm having trouble this morning. This first photo shows to traps end to end within a chicken wire tunnel. This is a good set up for rat pathways. Gets them coming or going. Cover wire with a towel. The second one in a smaller wire cage under winter squash leaves in a bed.

Baiting those traps with a chocolate raisin or a 1/3 " square of raw bacon rind is a good bait that stays on the spike , both are usually far more effective baits than cheese or sprinkled flour .

 My traps used to be screwed to a piece of wood at the biggest end with a single screw . The  wire half tube tunnel was  hinged over using small wire staples &  secured with a twist of garden wire to a staple on the side of the bit of wood mount  .  It made them a lot easier to put in place especially if I was sliding them under something  .  Just make sure you have enough clearance to allow the break neck arm to fly over free of obstruction .

 Rats & mice love to have their bodies in contact with two  surfaces at once i .e the floor & a wall , as it gives them a greater sense of security . If this two surface contact is then given a top cover to make three surfaces their bodies can easily touch as they scamper about they feel "  bomb proof & very very secure )  , they are far more likely to follow the run on a regular basis .

They also are bowel & bladder incontinent so tend to lay & follow the scent trail of their pee & poop . other rats also will follow another rats markers .  If it is much more than 24 hrs old scent it has different meanings  , 24 hrs old it means that the rat laid it did not come back and is usually abandoned as too dangerous .

 Rats & mice are not stupid ..it's how they survived & developed over millions of years . .. that's why regular rat runs are black with grease off their fur & urine & poop ,  we humans can take advantage of this when  placing our traps by placing then traps along side a wall or a few bricks laid end to end with a plank set over the top .

 Along with the above siting If you see a rat or mouse run /trail that is where you put the bricks & traps leave it baited but unset for a day or two so you can see that it has taken the bait then set the baited trap ..don't just hove one in the middle of th garden hoping for the best .

 Even if you wear gloves whilst  baiting setting & placing traps always scrub wash & disinfect your bare hands after the event for Leptospirosa ( Weils disease from vermin ) is a pretty nasty complaint to get  .

plantoid wrote:Baiting those traps with a chocolate raisin or a 1/3 " square of raw bacon rind is a good bait that stays on the spike , both are usually far more effective baits than cheese or sprinkled flour .

I've heard of using bacon. We used apple with peanut butter and then cantaloupe, as they were eating my cantaloupe. The foods were replaced daily to make sure they were fresh. Both worked. I have heard that cheese is the least effective.

 

Just make sure you have enough clearance to allow the break neck arm to fly over free of obstruction .

Yes, a little trial and error to make sure it clears completely.

 

Rats & mice love to have their bodies in contact with two  surfaces at once i .e the floor & a wall , as it gives them a greater sense of security . If this two surface contact is then given a top cover to make three surfaces their bodies can easily touch as they scamper about they feel "  bomb proof & very very secure )  , they are far more likely to follow the run on a regular basis .

Rats & mice are not stupid ..it's how they survived & developed over millions of years . .. that's why regular rat runs are black with grease off their fur & urine & poop ,  we humans can take advantage of this when  placing our traps by placing then traps along side a wall or a few bricks laid end to end with a plank set over the top .

Yes, they prefer perimeters, and leave "rub marks" and pooh and pee. The urine shows up distinctly with a black light. We still haven't found where they are getting in the attic.

 Along with the above siting If you see a rat or mouse run /trail that is where you put the bricks & traps leave it baited but unset for a day or two so you can see that it has taken the bait then set the baited trap ..don't just hove one in the middle of th garden hoping for the best .

Yes, bait and wait until they are comfortable with the trap around. Then set it and ... wella. Rats are more cautious than mice so it is most important with rats to get them on the first snap.

 

Even if you wear gloves whilst  baiting setting & placing traps always scrub wash & disinfect your bare hands after the event for Leptospirosa ( Weils disease from vermin ) is a pretty nasty complaint to get  .

Yep, they do run around in their pee and pooh.

Jeez!  That is terrible!  Why aren't the cats getting them?  Too big?

In my case, the rats are out at night and Sweetie is sleeping inside with us. And the attic speaks for itself.

I have used vanilla for a scent attraction- works great, but also alerts the raccoons, bobcats,skunks, and other predators where a free meal can be found once they get used to it. I've had to anchor down the traps to keep the critters from taking off with a combo rat/trap meal.

For the first time I have used straw as a mulch on my regular veggie garden and on my SFG strawberry bed. I've been wondering if the straw will attract mice/rats. I've seen some gnaw marks on a couple of acorn squash which were on top of the straw mulch. I thought it was caused by squirrels or chipmunks but now I'm wondering if something more sinister is out there.

Make yourself a "U" a shaped open channel out of three equal lengths of rough sawn 1" or so thick wood about two feet long  ( old pallet slats are good if they are wide enough for the exercise ) .
Staple /secure some  1/2 " steel mesh over the open side .
This is mainly to allow you to see the traps , you cold make it a square wooden tube instead ( like we do for catching weasels )

 Use timber wide enough to allow you to slide in a baited trap on a short length board in from each end then slip the empty tube under the straw with a sprinkle of bait just inside one end .

 A few days later , set it with the loaded traps on their carriers & recover it with straw trying not to disturb things as you do it .  See what you end up catching  every few days  .

 If you leave it too long and you have a kill in the traps other rodents will come and eat it as the temperatures plummet .

plantoid ... thanks for that advice.

trolleydriver wrote:For the first time I have used straw as a mulch on my regular veggie garden and on my SFG strawberry bed. I've been wondering if the straw will attract mice/rats. I've seen some gnaw marks on a couple of acorn squash which were on top of the straw mulch. I thought it was caused by squirrels or chipmunks but now I'm wondering if something more sinister is out there.

It could be a deer mouse, which is ironically worse, due to contamination of a hantavirus strain that rats don't carry!
This is why I dread living out in the boonies!

But, back on March 5, 2008, I got out of the boonies, because the weather of the boonies, sucks!

I wasn't scared of deer mice at the time, because I didn't realize that I was gambling with my life, when the last house I lived in that's in the boonies, had a mouse problem!  Just discovered this month that the boonies shack got a major renovation!

Deer mouse feces are very tiny. (Look at one of the Yosemite cabin photos, where it shows duct tape in one of the corners and there's feces on the duct tape.)

If they look like a jumbo version of mouse feces, then it's rat feces or squirrel feces...

Rat feces are very obvious... Also, look for dark marks on one of the lower walls... I know, because a house I just moved into on May 31 and moved out of on June 12, had a rat! Heard squeaking at 3 AM and 4 AM on June 12, 2016! The rat was right next to the router in the living room, lol.

That ironically was a major relief! I saw some white underneath and panicked about a possible deer mouse, but it was too big for the rodent to be a deer mouse! It also has a long tail...

It looks like Vermont has a problem with deer mice and thus I'm not taking any chances when it comes to vacant houses and slobs!

Rodents don't belong in homes unless it's one of the kid's pet. Droppings and urine can carry disease. We have recently snap-trapped 5 roof rats in the attic and 2 in my winter squash bed, plus a juvenile opossum. And I live in a suburban area!